Topic AGYG Financial Stuff from the General Chit-Chat forum.
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| Author | Topic: AGYG Financial Stuff |
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 Jean
Registered User
Registered:
6/7/2003 | posted: 10/23/2003 at 9:10:21 AM ET
Moljul, you asked about AGYG investment stuff-can't find your ? , but here's the link to the NY Post article from Bernadette's web site:
AGYG NY Post
|  moljul
Registered User
Registered:
4/2/2001
From:
New York
Fav. BP CD: I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Fav. BP Song: Dublin Lady
| posted: 10/23/2003 at 10:42:20 AM ET
Huh? I don't remember what question you are talking about.
| Jean
Registered User
Registered:
6/7/2003 | posted: 10/23/2003 at 11:35:39 AM ET
OK, I am now certifiably losing my memory...here is your question, from another place (if you don't want to continue this here, let me know and we can move it)!
Does anyone know how much Bernadette's AGYG cost to produce? As I recall, that broke even about a year after it opened.
| moljul
Registered User
Registered:
4/2/2001
From:
New York
Fav. BP CD: I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Fav. BP Song: Dublin Lady
| posted: 10/23/2003 at 11:47:13 AM ET
Oh, yes. That was from ATC. They were talking about whether Gypsy would make back its investment because Michael Riedel had written an article on shows from this past season either breaking even or not and he listed Gypsy as a failure money wise. Several people jumped to Gypsy's defense that it was too early to say whether Gypsy would make its investment back. I remembered that AGYG had made it back within a year but I didn't know what that show cost in relation to Gypsy.
Thanks Jean.
| PTM
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Registered:
6/26/2003 | posted: 10/23/2003 at 12:00:06 PM ET
If anything in the Post can be trusted . . ., there was an article written by, of all people, Reidel which followed AGYG for 4 months before its NY opening saying that the show was initially budgeted at $5.5 mil but had crept up to $6 mil and cost about $400,000 a week to run. The article also said that the show had a $6 million advance.
A Variety article after Gypsy opened said that the show was capitalized at $8.2 but came in at $7.5 and had about a $6mil advance and sold about $1 mil worth of tickets its opening weekend. For comparison The Boy from Oz apparently sold about $550,000 its opening weekend but had a $10 mil. advance.
PTM
|  UCFGuardgirl
Registered User
Registered:
6/15/2003
From:
New York City | posted: 10/23/2003 at 12:39:02 PM ET
Does anyone know how much GYPSY has made to-date? Can they break even within a year? And what counts as "sales" for the show? Is it only ticket sales or is it a combination of ticket sales, bar sales, and merchandise sales? Or does the show not get a percentage of merchandise sales? I would think it does.
***************
Rose: Mr. Weber, you left me right in the middle of a sentence.
Weber: Madam Rose, you're always in the middle of a sentence.
---- GYPSY
| moljul
Registered User
Registered:
4/2/2001
From:
New York
Fav. BP CD: I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Fav. BP Song: Dublin Lady
| posted: 10/23/2003 at 12:56:01 PM ET
Here is the link from ATC of the conversation that I found very interesting. Someone does give a break down on what ticket sales mean. I do believe that merchandise, etc. don't really figure into it. I don't think Gypsy will break even within the year. It cost more than AGYG and has not been doing near the business of AGYG. Though if Bernadette stays with the show for more than her year contract, I think it will break even soon after that.
http://www.talkinbroadway.com/forum/messages/33604.html
| UCFGuardgirl
Registered User
Registered:
6/15/2003
From:
New York City | posted: 10/23/2003 at 1:16:15 PM ET
Thanks, Moljul, for providing that link. I imagine some of those posters are probably involved in theatre (the financial end) to be able to explain it like that. Very interesting, indeed. 
For those of us (::raises hand: who have no idea how the grossing system works, I thought I might cut and paste a few of the posts from ATC that caught my eye, so you guys could read them without having to go through the whole thread (and thanks again to moljul, for providing the link.)
Here were a few:
----
Posted by GM on October 22, 2003 at 16:28:36:
Well, figure that 40-45% of the gross in excess of the " weekly nut" goes to royalties and additional theatre rent. So if Movin Out averaged $525K a week and it's nut really is $400K then at 55% for operating profit that means $68,750 a week, which means it would take 116 weeks to recoup $8 Million.
Posted by verdevere on October 22, 2003 at 17:55:27:
I wasn't clear. I apologize. In its simplest terms, if a show breaks at 500K and grosses 900K, the $400,000 difference is divided into two pieces. Let's say 60% of that is royalties payable to the creative team, the theatre and royalties that the producers get. The other 40% goes to the investors. Initally what the investors get is to pay back the capitalization, after the show recoups, this is pure profit. The percentages are often adjusted pre and post recoupment. It's more complicated than this and I'm rushing out, but this is the essence. As for The Lion King, Disney does not discuss their numbers. So, it's not common knowledge what TLK's break is or what the capitalization was. I would assume, by now, that TLK has paid back, probably three or four times over.
Posted by Socal1 on October 22, 2003 at 15:22:01:
If the grosses stay at this level through Bernadette's contract then the show should turn a profit. Does it surprise anyone that Reidel, who has been the shows hugest detractor, wants to make people believe it's a flop. he should wait till the show closes before he makes such a statement. it'd be different if the show was losing money on a weekly basis, but it's making $250,000 or so a week. Most producers would kill for that type of profit.
***************
Rose: Mr. Weber, you left me right in the middle of a sentence.
Weber: Madam Rose, you're always in the middle of a sentence.
---- GYPSY
| moljul
Registered User
Registered:
4/2/2001
From:
New York
Fav. BP CD: I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Fav. BP Song: Dublin Lady
| posted: 10/23/2003 at 1:25:30 PM ET
Yes, ATC is full of lots of theater pros and lots of fans such as myself. It is a wealth of knowledge. I love this board for Bernadette specific musings but All That Chat is a very thorough overall theater board.
| Karen
Registered User
Registered:
5/3/2002 | posted: 10/23/2003 at 1:27:04 PM ET
Interesting thread, but, oh, that Riedel!! Bernadette's Gypsy is a flop musical stacked in Broadway's morgue? But it's still playing for chrissake! (excuse the language). Sheesh, that guy takes the cake. I remember reading a profile of Riedel in the New York Observer a few months back and he sounded like a real piece of work. Apparently, he's in the charming habit of walking up to people in restaurants and asking "Do you hate me?" Even more telling, is the fact that he was already a Republican in fourth grade, something he enjoys bragging about. Scary.
| PTM
Registered User
Registered:
6/26/2003 | posted: 10/24/2003 at 1:16:39 AM ET
According to my calculations, Gypsy has earned about $20.8 mil in 29 weeks. In its first 29 weeks, AGYG had earned about $19.5. I'm not sure if it's more fair to compare number of weeks or to use AGYG's April-Oct. numbers instead.
Anyway, according to Variety, Gypsy's weekly gross potential is $941,395 (although this figure hasn't been changed since they lowered the price of the last rows of balcony seats) so if my math is correct, Gypsy has earned about 75% of its total potential gross and AGYG had earned about 82% or more of its total potential gross.
Here's some other figures I find kind of interesting. Gypsy has played 29 weeks and earned almost $21 mil. It Runs in the Family was in the theaters for maybe 4 weeks and earned about $7.3 mil but even dividing that figure by a high ticket price of $10 that comes to 730,000 people seeing that movie. Even if Gypsy played to sold out houses at the Shubert for 52 weeks, its total attendance would be 601,952.
PTM
| PTM
Registered User
Registered:
6/26/2003 | posted: 10/24/2003 at 2:19:17 AM ET
Oh, my math was off a little. I think Gypsy has earned about 77% of its total potential gross and AGYG for its first 29 weeks had earned about 85% of it total potential gross.
PTM
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